STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING WRITING EFFECTIVELY

Abstract

Writing, as one of the language skills, is a compulsory skill to be mastered by EFL students and it has become a problematic skill for majority of students. Thus, EFL instructors are recommended to use various strategies in order to help improve their students’ performance in writing. This article discusses some teaching strategies that the EFL instructors can use in teaching writing. Some experts stated that writing strategies determine the students’ capability improvement in producing a longer and better essay. Among the strategies are Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD), process writing, shared writing, writing animation, and cooperative writing. Teachers need to first consider whether students have sufficient background knowledge about the topic they will write about. If not, teachers need to build the field. This is most beneficial when done through a shared experience so that teachers are able to support students with content knowledge and vocabulary. Listening to a guest speaker, reading a quality text, attending an incursion or excursion, undertaking a science experiment, sharing a cultural experience, viewing a website or video, or listening to a podcast are just some of the many ways students can build up the necessary topic knowledge and vocabulary to create texts. Jointly developing word banks for reference throughout the writing process will ensure students have the appropriate language and vocabulary for writing. This will lighten the cognitive load for students as they write, and they will be better able to focus on how to best communicate their message.